Colombia tourism is booming!

A country, diverse as no other, Colombia is booming as a tourism destination. Snow clad Andean peaks, Caribbean coastal sands, enigmatic Amazon jungle, cinematic cobblestone villages — Colombia is an adventurous and endearing portrait of South America in miniature with a population to whom hospitality seems to come natural.

While the old image of Colombia as a violent and instable country caused by drug cartels and guerilla warrior, still lingers somewhat, that time has long since passed and the hacienda of Pablo Escobar is now a museum.

While the beautiful coastal city of Cartagena’s, a treasure from the colonial times with its great defense walls overlooking the Caribbean shores and its bougainvillea overgrown mansions, its Spanish built churches and picturesque squares, is still dominating the image of the country, the unimaginable diversity of the place has become a magnet for adventure travel companies from around the world.

The list of enchanting places to visit is simply overwhelming. Whether we talk about cinematic cobblestoned remote mountain towns and villages, the smashing nightlife of Bogota’s Zona Rosa, pristine coastal islands surrounded by crystal clear blue waters, mountain trails for days of horse riding, outings to the huge jungle national park Amacayacu, reachable only by plane and boat over the Amazone river, or the desert landscape of La Guajira peninsula or the famous Caño Cristales river, which turns red every year for a couple of months, we could go on and on and on.

Foreign visitors to Colombia increased 14{cade3cd6ea44c9e099402f61e95e983e8f83ab951f3ff944c0038bbba399d24f} in 2014, according to the country’s trade ministry, with just under 3 million people traveling to the country. The pace is expected to be picking up, especially with more airlines introducing direct intercontinental flights to different cities in the country. Delta has opened direct routes to Cali and Medellin and KLM has a direct flight to Cali. Avianca is starting to operate a London-Bogota flight and more capacity is added with air fares coming down quickly.